THEATRE REVIEW: Concerning The UFO Sighting Outside Mt Roskill, Auckland
21.02.2023 at Basement Theatre
This review is part of the Auckland Pride Review Project - a collaborative project between four local publications (Pantograph Punch, Theatrescenes, Bad Apple Gay and Rat World) to provide more discourse around queer theatre and performance work, while also uplifting new and emerging writers. We will be reviewing a range of shows throughout the month of Pride - so keep a look out and go support our local queer performers!
Concerning The UFO Sighting Outside Mt Roskill, Auckland is a solo theater piece showing at the Basement Theatre studio space, directed by Sean Dioneda Rivera and performed by Reon Bell. A comedic, heart warming, and dynamic show about a young gay man named Dana finding his footing in the world, launched from Mount Roskill. Keep in mind this is Auckland during the 1980s, so find yourself transported to Star Trek and other classic film and tv references of the era, while also acknowledging what it would have meant to be young and gay in that place and time. I appreciate that the piece doesn’t blatantly hyper fixate on stereotypes or homophobia but allows the audience to see many layers of Dana as a whole human being in his day to day life: From working at an office and how he interacts with his colleagues and boss, to his wide imagination and times of mania and anxious spirals at home, to how he goes about finding pleasure and connection with himself and others. All while investigating the complex possibility of alien life being under everyone’s noses but his.
Bell keeps the audience captivated and curious from the moment you walk into the studio to find your seat - we see him at an office desk fidgeting on the phone as if he has just had a rush of caffeine-induced determination. Bell sets the tone with energy, playing multiple characters from a projected screen with incredible timing, ensuing laughter from the audience as they try to keep up with him. Bell switches from narrator to protagonist, allowing us into his internal and external world. The captivation continues as he engages with the front row as if they are his colleagues at work, especially when he yells off stage to ask ‘Stephanie’ what the time is, allowing a pause that leads an audience member to respond with: “it’s six forty five”. From this moment on you can feel the excitement from everyone in the space, and believe me hun we are hooked!
“Bell sets the tone with energy, playing multiple characters from a projected screen with incredible timing, ensuing laughter from the audience as they try to keep up with him”
You can’t help but be amazed by how Bell and Rivera took their time perfecting the blocking of the show. The use of space in the studio, the intricate projection, sound, and light design really transports you to different spaces of Dana’s world. From flickering lights above the audience as they ‘experience’ UFO sightings as “candles in the sky”, to the projector quickly changing the backdrop from office cubicles to a sea of grass as Dana is transported to a park each time he goes to the office coffee machine - the audience are mesmerized by Dana’s alien experiences.
“The use of space in the studio, the intricate projection, sound, and light design really transports you to different spaces of Dana’s world”
My favourite scene is what I would describe as, ‘sexy boy’: While questioning his sanity through alien abudction, he gives into his sensual desires. A beautiful queer awakening as Dana explores physical touch without whakamā and dances like no one is watching. At first you have no idea what is going on as Dana enthusiastically starts to speak in what sounds like restless gibberish to the point where you can’t help but laugh, hold on to the ride and wait until clarity comes. That’s when the amazing use of the projector comes in again, and you can see an almost exact replica of what has just happened but now with subtitles of all the gibberish translated. The audience becomes hysterical in the realization of what Dana was saying and what was really going on. True gay panic. A relatable experience of coming to terms with your sexuality and trying to put yourself out there. With each gibberish expression, we find out how many times he was actually asking, “do you want to dance?” and how many times he was being rejected. Though it’s endearing to see even with all the rejections, Dana still keeps trying. Leading to a scene of him interrupting the second half of his own presentation at work to let everyone know he is unapologetically gay: “it’s orgasmic!”
Concerning The UFO Sighting Outside Mt Roskill, Auckland concludes not only with Dana’s contact with the aliens, but also with discoveries about himself: why was he so obsessed in needing to know what is out there? What is outside of earth? What is outside of Mount Roskill? Acknowledging how big this world is must mean he is never truly alone. This is when the show becomes really heart warming: Everyone sitting in silence, falling in love with Dana’s personality and his journey to find that what he truly desires is to be held and loved in his entirety, and he doesn’t have to leave Mount Roskill to find it.
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Check out more about Concerning The Ufo Sighting Outside Mt Roskill, Auckland here!
Director: Sean Dioneda Rivera
Cast: Reon Bell
Creative: Reon Bell
Producer: Reon Bell